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Obama agenda: 'That's OK'

"President Obama says Washington needs deadlines to do anything, but his Senate leader decided Thursday deadlines are made to be broken, including health care reform before August," the New York Daily News writes.

Obama at the town hall yesterday: "We just heard today that, well, we may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August, or the beginning of August," Obama said. "That's OK. I just want people to keep on working. Just keep working."

Interesting co-op vs. public option reporting in the Washington Post "Some Democrats are so opposed to the cooperative idea that they are urging Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to offer no new coverage option in his legislation. That would allow Democrats more time to build support for the government insurance plan included in the House bill, along with legislation approved on a party-line vote by the Senate health committee. But dropping the cooperative provision would risk losing the support of Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the panel's ranking Republican and a co-op advocate, whose presence at the negotiating table represents Obama's best hope of getting the broad bipartisan support he has pledged to seek for reform."

The New York Daily News: "What's everyone so upset about? That was President Obama's response Thursday night during an ABC News interview when asked if he regretted his 'acted stupidly' comment during Wednesday night's press conference. 'I am surprised by the controversy,' Obama told ABC's Terry Moran. 'I think it was [a] pretty straightforward comment that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home.' And while Obama did not apologize for his strong jab, he attempted to soften its impact by offering compliments to the police officer at the center of the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest, Sgt. James Crowley. 'From what I can tell, the sergeant involved is an outstanding police officer,' the President offered, adding that he 'has extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do.'"

As to be expected, the Gates story continues to lead the Boston Globe with varying stories: On the Cambridge police press conference, how accomplished blacks see a familiar pattern, and how Bostonians are split on their response to President Obama's remarks: "On both sides, however, was the unsettling realization that a city that prides itself on its progressive politics and racial tolerance had been singled out by the country's first African-American president as an example of the limits on racial progress."